[Ichos]

I think the improvement from the regular Empyrean was not conveyed properly in the reviews I read. That's why I waited this long to try them. Most of what I read implied a marginal improvement to the bass hump, but they really fixed all the flaws in the OG in the Elite (and took it up a notch to the summit, imo).

Also, just being able to drive them well out of virtually any headphone jack is so underappreciated! I had a great time, sitting on the balcony, listening to them straight out of my MacBook pro yesterday.

Guess you haven't read my review!

 

[Toonartist]

I think the improvement from the regular Empyrean was not conveyed properly in the reviews I read. That's why I waited this long to try them. Most of what I read implied a marginal improvement to the bass hump, but they really fixed all the flaws in the OG in the Elite (and took it up a notch to the summit, imo).

Also, just being able to drive them well out of virtually any headphone jack is so underappreciated! I had a great time, sitting on the balcony, listening to them straight out of my MacBook pro yesterday.

I agree. I loved the Empyrean, they're a great set of headphones and if you like their tuning then they provide amazing build quality and fit as you'd expect from Meze. At some point I could well pick up another pair.

I think some out there want to think that the Elites are basically the same just with less bass / weight in the mids with little else changed. To me, they're a whole lot more than that. I had the Empyrean for 1.5 years so know them well.

The Elites remind you of everything that was good about the Empyrean but with more detail, bigger stage and less weight in the lower mids and the bass is tight and hits hard. It gives the illusion of standing next to a large nightclub speaker. It's as if you can feel it go through you. But the mids & the highs, clarity and air are just heaven with the bass. The 360 soundstage and its height constantly make me smile.

To be honest, I don't think I'll ever replace them. They'll always have a home here!

 

[ra990]

What I've noticed with the Elite is I put them on and I just get into the music. I'm not thinking about anything the headphones are doing, just instantly toe-tapping, moving around, and getting into the music. There are headphones that I've put on and inevitably I start tweaking stuff, thinking about how to tame something, or the opposite - they sound so amazing in certain aspects that it actually detracts from the music and again brings my focus on the headphones instead of the music. The Elite just do everything well and get out of the way. I was resisting adding them to my favorite list after just less than a week, but they were instantly a hit with me.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I think the improvement from the regular Empyrean was not conveyed properly in the reviews I read.

Actually I think the difference between both is generally really well conveyed.

The thing that is totally off, is the General impression of the Empyrean.

So in other terms, the Empyrean is not nearly that far behind the Totl headphones, like Susvara as many make it out to be, while the Elite is just on that level of the top flagships

 

[Arcamera]

The Elite is great, and definitely the more refined of the two, but I still think the Empyrean is pretty great as well. I'm still using both.

 

[betula]

I think the improvement from the regular Empyrean was not conveyed properly in the reviews I read. That's why I waited this long to try them. Most of what I read implied a marginal improvement to the bass hump, but they really fixed all the flaws in the OG in the Elite (and took it up a notch to the summit, imo).

Sometimes I wonder how someone with relatively limited hearing abilities (and good intentions) can become a popular 'reviewer'...

 

[TheMiddleSky]

What DAC/AMP are you using for the LCD5? I found Atrium a bit uneven/harsh in the highs, regardless of whether I was using Spring 3 or Wavelight DAC, or swapping ear pad. But then again I am not much of a treble head (love Susvara's treble though). Atrium soundstage also might have stretched wider but didn't feel as deep compared to LCD5 to my ears.

Agree on bass difference (from stock LCD5), but love how LCD5's bass performs with a small bass shelf---so clean, tight, detailed and textured.

On the flip side, on the fence about blind-buying Elite knowing I still want to listen to Solitaire P and 1266. Wish it was as easy to demo HPs as it were IEMs .

Currently I'm using Chord TT2. Sometime I like plug it to Bakoon PRE7610mk3 as well to add fuller body and stronger impact, however in expense of a little narrower soundstage compared to direct TT2.

I would categorise Atrium at smoother side of headphone, but agree in general treble of dynamic driver couldn't be as effortless (or as smooth) as Planar driver.

 

[ra990]

The thing that is totally off, is the General impression of the Empyrean.

I had first hand experience with it. I remember evaluating it against the Ether 2 at the time and though the Ether 2 was better for me. Bass bloat and bleed into mids is one of the first signs for me that a headphone doesn't belong in the TOTL category. That's just me though!

 

[betula]

I had first hand experience with it. I remember evaluating it against the Ether 2 at the time and though the Ether 2 was better for me. Bass bloat and bleed into mids is one of the first signs for me that a headphone doesn't belong in the TOTL category. That's just me though!

I loved the Empyrean for a long time, so let's not be too harsh on it. It is definitely not for everyone, not for the asking price at least. They are unique though, underrated and bashed undeservedly by a number of reviewers. Also praised by many...

IMO what the critics say (lack of detail and resolution, bass bloat) are fairly true, once you heard other flagships as well. But people who attack or don't understand the Empyrean forget some other very important flagship qualities like a lifelike presentation with excellent timbre and coherence. Things that can't really be measured and some reviewers can't even hear... Yes, the Arya for example might sound more spacious and more detailed than the Empyrean, but does not have the coherence, texture and organic presentation of the (lower) flagship quality of the Empyrean.

That is why the Empyrean is misunderstood/controversial/underrated in many cases.
The Elite however is huge leap towards the presentation of other high-end headphones but not without forgetting its Meze roots. By Meze roots I mean a soft, untiring, yet detailed and spacious, natural sound. By other high-end headphone presentation I mean a more neutral tuning, flatter curve, (literally) tighter and thinner diaphragm that improves speed and details.

To me the Empyrean is still a pleasing and enjoyable headphone, but more of a (higher-end) flavour can. Still beats all popular mid-fi though like Arya or my beloved LCD-X. The Elite however is the real deal. Where Meze gets rid of all the limitations of the Empyrean and enters the real high-league. Keeping all its flavours, but in a much more controlled and significantly better-tuned manner.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I had first hand experience with it. I remember evaluating it against the Ether 2 at the time and though the Ether 2 was better for me. Bass bloat and bleed into mids is one of the first signs for me that a headphone doesn't belong in the TOTL category. That's just me though!

Same here -- I also liked the headstage of the Ether 2 over Empy -- by a lot. But that's really just personal taste. Others might prefer Empy's lush, enveloping headstage vs the more open, airy headstage of E2.

 

[ra990]

Same here -- I also liked the headstage of the Ether 2 over Empy -- by a lot. But that's really just personal taste. Others might prefer Empy's lush, enveloping headstage vs the more open, airy headstage of E2.

So interesting...I would not have described the Ether 2 as open and airy! I didn't get that impression and thought the OG Empyreans beat the Ether 2 in terms of soundstage and open/airiness to their sound. Where it didn't beat them for me was overall frequency response, timbre, with low reaching and linear bass extension. It's been a while since I had those two headphones, so just going off memory and what I posted about them at the time.

 

[LCMusicLover]

So interesting...I would not have described the Ether 2 as open and airy! I didn't get that impression and thought the OG Empyreans beat the Ether 2 in terms of soundstage and open/airiness to their sound. Where it didn't beat them for me was overall frequency response, timbre, with low reaching and linear bass extension. It's been a while since I had those two headphones, so just going off memory and what I posted about them at the time.

I guess that really is Your ears/My ears.

To me, Empy's headstage could be described as lush and enveloping. Perhaps 'airy' isn't accurate for E2 -- hard to come up with the right words to describe headstage -- maybe I mean 'open'. But I hear a lot more space, especially depth, from E2. I also hear significantly more precision vs Empy. Not at the 'That instrument, RIGHT THERE' level of Utopia's stage (which, while small in all dimensions, is very precise). But more so than Empy's headstage which I found sort of 'blurry' if that makes sense. Seemed like the sound was kind of smeared horizontally.

And I really don't want to call the differences better/worse. I don't think there's any such thing as an 'accurate' headstage from headphones -- none really reproduce the live music experience. I just prefer a more open stage. Goes back to my childhood, sitting with my dad, having him 'point out' the different sections of the orchestra while listening to classical in our living room. He had 'invested' in some very high-end (for the time) audio equipment -- Macintosh amp & preamp/tuner, Altec Lansing speakers, Ampex reel-to-reel.

So he's the one my wallet blames

 

[ra990]

I guess that really is Your ears/My ears.

To me, Empy's headstage could be described as lush and enveloping. Perhaps 'airy' isn't accurate for E2 -- hard to come up with the right words to describe headstage -- maybe I mean 'open'. But I hear a lot more space, especially depth, from E2. I also hear significantly more precision vs Empy. Not at the 'That instrument, RIGHT THERE' level of Utopia's stage (which, while small in all dimensions, is very precise). But more so than Empy's headstage which I found sort of 'blurry' if that makes sense. Seemed like the sound was kind of smeared horizontally.

And I really don't want to call the differences better/worse. I don't think there's any such thing as an 'accurate' headstage from headphones -- none really reproduce the live music experience. I just prefer a more open stage. Goes back to my childhood, sitting with my dad, having him 'point out' the different sections of the orchestra while listening to classical in our living room. He had 'invested' in some very high-end (for the time) audio equipment -- Macintosh amp & preamp/tuner, Altec Lansing speakers, Ampex reel-to-reel.

So he's the one my wallet blames

I see, yep it could have been a width vs depth type of thing. I'm still honing my skills in evaluating soundstage and recognizing things like width vs depth vs placement accuracy. There are so many implications to the word soundstage. Everyone has their own interpretation of it.

 

[LCMusicLover]

I see, yep it could have been a width vs depth type of thing. I'm still honing my skills in evaluating soundstage and recognizing things like width vs depth vs placement accuracy. There are so many implications to the word soundstage. Everyone has their own interpretation of it.

Yep, it's not 1-dimensional

Seriously, besides width & height, depth can really matter. And it can actually go either way. Sometimes you really want the vocals 'up front' while other times you want the mix to have more depth.

There are tracks where the image is just weird. Here's something I wrote late one night ... perhaps I was a bit elevated ... it's a bit abstruse.

But besides the 'size' of the image, there's also precision and coherence. Precision is about how well sounds are 'localized' in the image while coherence is about how well different sounds are unified into a natural-sounding presentation.

I listen to a lot of Loreena McKennit, and many of her tracks highlight these qualities, for better or worse -- Beneath a Phrygian Sky, Night Ride across the Caucasus are good test tracks. Also, Van Morrisons Sweet Thing from Astral Weeks. And London Grammar's vocals have an interesting echo-y effect which can be dramatic or not, depending on the chain you're listening to.

I also think the upstream chain you listen to (especially amps) has as much or more impact on headstage/imaging than on other aspects of the signature. Swapping tubes in my Liquid Platinum and transformers in my DSHA-3F can have dramatically effects, depending on the can. DACs can still have an impact, but to my ears, amps have more.

 

[cr11]

I went to CanJam London a week ago and listened to the Elite. It was the best headphone experience I have had so far. I could have sat there for hours and just listen to music. The design and built-quality are very impressive and the headphones are extremely comfortable, too.